Vacation Bible School

Genesis 1:1-31 describes how God created a perfect world in six days, including perfect weather. This became the theme of Vacation Bible School at Mt. Zion. The children made crafts, did science experiments, and played games that all had to do with water or the second day of creation.

Thomas's birthday came on the heels of vacation bible school. The kids had a fabulous week and a few days during that week I had 9 children asleep at the same time, in the afternoon.

This year Mt. Zion decided to try something new by adding science into the mix. The children studied the second day of creation which is all about water.

Water games were all the rage outside.

The children made rain sticks and rainbows in craft time.Rainbows were came in all different styles from paint to crepe paper.

Bible lessons were taught in a boat if you were in the right class.

Rebecca graduated from VBS and was a group leader for the week. She tended to the preschoolers.

Science experiments were tested during science time. Have you ever tried the pop and Mentos experiment?

There was a lot of glue and sequins used during VBS week. It was crazy fun! You can find more photos here.

Vacation Bible School

The beginning of August was crazy fun with Vacation Bible School (VBS) going on at our church. The theme was Amazing Desert Journey by CPH. It was last year's program which made it great for us because we were able to borrow many items from area churches. Our coordinators are pretty amazing. They choose a curriculum, but then change just about everything in it. The only thing that gets left in it is the Bible lesson.

Every morning began with chapel for everyone.

Then all the kids scattered and the church became quiet. Bible lessons were taught under tents in the desert, naturally.

I spent most of my time in crafts this year because, well, I love crafts!

Aren't these preschoolers adorable? They were all pretty sweet kids. We had so much fun with them.

Temperatures were in the high 80s and low 90s, so I wasn't out watching the games much. It was too blasted hot to be outside. These children drank a ton of water that week.

Our teachers even had their own lessons every day taught by none other than my Lutheran Stud. 

Lunch was served daily just before we sent the children home. On the last day all the parents were invited to join the children for lunch too.

Lunch wouldn't be complete without dessert, so we had cupcakes of course, right? What a week! My children came home and were completely wiped out every single day. It was pretty awesome. They were so excited that they were waking up at 6am for VBS that didn't start until 9:30am. 

Snow Cone Cupcakes

Snow cone cupcakes seem to be all the rage this summer. I've seen them in magazines and on the internet. I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon too and create some cupcakes for VBS. They were a huge hit with all of the children.

I ordered paper souffle cups and wooden spoons to make the experience just like eating a snow cone.

Begin by making vanilla cupcakes in the baking cups.

Everyone loves vanilla, so you can't go wrong with that, although a little cherry or lime extract could be a fun flavor to add. While the cupcakes are baking whip up some vanilla butter cream frosting.

Divide the frosting into three bowls. Choose three colors of your choice. We decided to go with the red, white, and blue to be patriotic? Frost a strip of frosting down the middle of the cupcake. Then dredge the cupcake in white sprinkles.

Grab your red frosting and frost the side of the cupcake. Then dip just the side into some red sprinkles.

Take your last color and frost the other side of the cupcake. Katie was kind enough to help me make all 100 cupcakes. 

Take a pastry knife and smooth out the frosting. Then dip that last side in blue sprinkles being careful not to get any blue sprinkles in the white territory.

Do these cupcakes make you think of Pepsi? Yeah, me too.

The church ladies were kind enough to create a beautiful space for the cupcakes. They were so much fun to make. . .  and devour as well.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together and set aside.  Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute. 

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.  Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.  

Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full (you will likely have batter left over after filling 24 wells.)  Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.  

Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients:
20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream  

Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds.  Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds.  Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds.  Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds.  Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.  

Adapted from Annie's Eats.

VBS

Last week our church held vacation bible school for five whole mornings and even fed the children lunch.

I thought this would be the perfect time for me to get a ton of things done and run a bunch of errands with just one child instead of 6. I was told that even Elizabeth could attend VBS even though she wasn't quite three yet. Yay! 

Guess what I got done last week? NOTHING!  I ended up subbing on day 1 for one of the classes. This is the class I was in charge of. I have everything under control. Can you tell?

After day 1 I was had lists of things I wanted to get done. It never happened. Can you guess what I did instead?

I got sucked in and couldn't leave. Vacation bible school is infectious. 

I hung out. I shot a ton photos. 

Who wouldn't want to hang out with my Lutheran Stud?

The kids were all so much fun.

Even Anna wanted to stay and make crafts.

These children have such great energy that I didn't want to leave.

Since we've been at Mt. Zion I have never volunteered to help out. I've always had little babies and figured it would be too much of a hassle to find someone to watch them. Every year, I have to say, I end up getting sucked in and I never leave. I am sure it will stay this way for years to come, so I'll just go with it. Why leave a good thing, right?